Day of Love, Gifts, Kisses, & Panicked Boyfriends
by OwlinAMinor
Summary: Kyo forgot Valentine's Day. Luckily, Hatsuharu reminds him, and he takes Tohru on an awesome surprise date to celebrate. One-shot. Kyohru. Kyo's POV. Written for a Valentine's Day contest on deviantART. Rated T for kissing and a bit of implied lemons.


**DAY OF LOVE, GIFTS, KISSES, AND PANICKED BOYFRIENDS**

**fanfiction for Valentine's Day contest at TohruxKyoGroup at deviantART**

**A cross between a Dis and a Claimer of the Owl variety: I can't draw to save my life. Therefore, I'm not a manga artist. Therefore, I don't own Fruits Basket. ****Natsuki Takaya does. Good for her. Oh, and Suzanne Collins owns that quote I took from Catching Fire ... and Edd Gould owns the simile about poptarts in a pencil sharpener Lilah added in ... good for them ...  
**

**So, as you can see below the title of this lovely one-shot, this is an entry to the Valentine's Day contest at one of the Kyohru fan-groups on deviantART. But it's still a fanfiction, so I'm posting it here too. :)**

**Some info about the story: It happens 3 or 4 years after the end of the Fruits Basket manga. Kyo and Tohru share an apartment in the city they lived in in the manga, and they're both going to college there. Kyo hasn't had the guts to propose yet, so they're still boyfriend and girlfriend. Obviously, it happens on Valentine's Day (and the day before).**

**Pairings: Kyohru and implied Hatsuharu/Rin.**

**Kyo's POV**

**Thanks and virtual cookies go to my awesome friends Lilah (aka FlyingSolo365) and FireBankai7 for editing this!  
**

**Enjoy!**

**

* * *

**

Something was shaking against me.

"Nurrrgh," I mumbled to it, too sleepy to be angry. I turned over so that my right cheek was pressed flat against the soft, light-blue sheet. (For those of you unfamiliar with Kyo-sleep-language, "Nurrrgh" translates to "Five more minutes".) Really, how hard is it to get a good night's sleep these days? Tohru and I had been up until 2am the previous night … though what we'd been doing probably wasn't the best use of a few hours' time … even if it _was_ the most enjoyable …

Unfortunately, the shaking didn't cease. Actually, it wasn't shaking so much as it was … vibrating. Humming. Almost like a swarm of angry bees, or a computer under too much stress, or … or a cell phone. _My _cell phone.

Sitting up against the uncomfortably hard bed frame, careful not to wake the still-slumbering Tohru (that girl could sleep through the end of the world), I grabbed my cell phone from where it had been resting underneath my bare shin. _How did it get there?_ I wondered as I flipped open the cracked blue lid and pressed the speaker to my ear.

"Hngh?" (Kyo sleep-language to English translation: "What do you want? This had better be good.")

"Hey, Kyo, what's up?" I recognized Hatsuharu's voice through the garbled mess of static that usually came when I tried to use the phone in Tohru's and my apartment. The apartment wasn't terribly big or fancy, but it _was_ fairly cheap, not to mention within five-minute walking distance from the community college and both of our jobs (mine as a teacher at a martial arts studio, and hers as a maid in the city's main hotel.)

_So it was Haru who called. Damn, and I thought it was_ _urgent._ "I am," I yawned into the tiny microphone, "thanks to you. I mean, really, haven't you ever heard of _consideration_? Saturday morning is, like, Universal Sleeping Hour."

A chuckle echoed into my ear, low and quiet, but still more full of amusement than Disneyworld. "It's almost noon. Stupid cat."

"Don't call me that," I snarled. Jeez, and Yuki thought being called a princess was annoying…

Unfazed, Haru proceeded to explain to me why he'd interrupted my very important beauty sleep. "Anyway, I called to ask you if you wanted to come shopping with me today. To get Tohru a Valentine's Day present while I find one for Rin. You know, since Valentine's Day is tomorrow and everything …"

"WHAT?" Damn it, I could _feel_ those cat ears popping out of my head … I glanced down at Tohru, who, thank God (but don't thank Akito, she'd probably kill you for it) was still sleeping, her long brown hair spread across the pillow like a tangle of seaweed. I could just see the strap of her rose-colored lace undershirt poking out from beneath the powder blue of the sheet. She was so beautiful and peaceful, she could've been an angel dropping in from Heaven …

I was so lost in ogling my girlfriend that I didn't realize that Haru was speaking.

"Yeah, Valentine's Day. You know, Day of Love and Gifts and Kisses and Cupids and Flowers and Chocolate and Panicked Boyfriends … you forgot, didn't you?"

"Shut up."

"So I'll see you at the mall in twenty minutes?" he questioned.

I sighed the sigh of a commander surrendering his army (in my case, the "army" was more sleep and the chance that Tohru would make me breakfast.) "Yeah. See you."

The call ended with a _click_ and I reluctantly clambered out of bed in search of clean clothes, a comb, food, and a pencil and paper.

* * *

_Tohru,_

_Sorry I didn't wake you, I've gone to meet Hatsuharu somewhere. Don't ask where or why; it's a surprise. I'll probably be back in time for lunch, so don't eat without me._

_Love you,_

_Kyo_

_

* * *

_

"Nothing seems right," I grumbled an hour later. Haru and I, along with about twenty other panicked boyfriends, were scouring the mall for gifts for our girlfriends like mice searching desperately for a needle in a haystack. Wait – never mind. Forget I said anything related to rodents. We'd visited the dress shop, Hallmark, the florist's, the bakery, the tea shop (my personal favorite because of the sweet, savory aromas and delicious tea samples it held), the shoe shop, Barnes and Noble (there were too many scary fangirls there counting down to the release of some book called _Angel_ for anyone's sanity; we left almost immediately) … everywhere but Victoria's Secret, which I wouldn't set foot into if it was the last place on earth not yet destroyed by deadly radiation. Right now, we were once again in the dress shop, rummaging through the cardboard clearance bin in the back of the tiny, violet-splattered, full-of-insanely-expensive-merchandise store (or, more accurately, cow-dude was rummaging while I looked on and whined.)

"Mmm," Haru responded, his mind on Pluto as he fingered a flimsy silk miniskirt the color of ocean waves.

"I mean," I continued, "I can't get her flowers – she'd probably knock over the vase and spill water everywhere."

"Mmm."

"I can't get her candy or chocolates – she'd give them all away."

"Mmm."

"I can't get her a knick-knack – we don't have room."

"Mmm."

"I can't get her clothes – either they won't fit her or she won't wear them or they'll get destroyed before I can give them to her."

"Mmm."

"I can't get her shoes – her feet are so small, I'd never find good ones in her size."

"Mmm."

"I can't get her a book – she wouldn't have time to read it, then she'd feel guilty about not reading it."

"Mmm."

"I can't get her –"

"Look," Haru interrupted, dropping the shimmering silvery strapless dress that he was examining in a small hill of discarded clothing on the hardwood floor and swinging around to face me, "Maybe you should _make _her something, if you can't get her something decent."

Like he should be talking about decency. I took one look at the tiny dress he'd been considering and felt my cheeks warm.

"No way." I shook my head vigorously. "I can't write, or draw, or sing, or anything creative and gift-worthy like that."

"Then take her on a really awesome date," the cow-boy suggested.

"Nah, I don't have the money to …" I trailed off, chasing an idea in the deep nether-regions of my mind.

"Hmm … wait … maybe … nah … wait … I'VE GOT IT!" I shouted so loudly that a few customers from across the store glared at me like I'd just announced that the world had run out of fish (which would have been quite horrible indeed.)

"Do you really?" Haru asked mildly.

"Yep!" I nodded. "Now that I do, can we go into that cool tea shop again?"

"What, to flirt with the girl who runs it? And you call yourself a faithful boyfrie – OW!"

(If you're curious, that last "OW!" was because I punched Haru in the jaw. What? He deserved it! I _am_ a faithful boyfriend! … Don't look at me like that … I would _never_ cheat on Tohru ... and even if I was willing to cheat on her, the girl who ran that tea shop wasn't _nearly_ hot enough to be worth it ... )

* * *

At 7am the next morning, I was maneuvering a tiny fire-red Honda Civic I'd rented for the day up a dirt road to the summit of a mountain. Not a huge mountain – just one of those mountains that you find in the foothills of a gigantic mountain range, not large enough to appeal to most hikers, but still big enough to be a bother to drive up. This particular road was surrounded by maple trees, their browned branches dusted with a swiftly-melting light frost from the previous night. Finally, the road narrowed to a path about two feet across that disappeared up into the distance, and I was forced to halt the car and step out of it.

After half a minute, a few curses, and a bit of kicking, I managed to pry open the trunk (seriously, the thing was clamped tighter than a vice) and find the baritone saxophone-sized golden-weave picnic hamper. None of the food (take-out from a restaurant a few blocks away from our apartment) seemed to be damaged, so using some twine I'd stored in the trunk, I secured the hamper to my back.

_Now for the really part. _Slower than snail mail, I opened the door to the back of the car, wincing when it squeaked, and lifted a sleeping Tohru, clad in a gray fleece coat and navy skirt, off the puke-colored seat and into my arms. Kicking the door shut and praying the car would lock automatically, I set off down the path.

Ten minutes or so later, I reached the summit of the mountain. Not that it surprised me – I'd planned this entire route with the help of Google Earth and a few hiking sites. It was a beautiful little place, almost untouched by man. Smooth, nearly reflective ebony shale rock dropped down the other side of the mountain in a cliff. Below it, nestled in the smooth carpet of trees, a tiny azure lake sparkled in the sunlight, surface perfectly still. In the maples behind me, birds chirped greetings to each other, insects went about doing whatever-insects-go-about-doing, and a few small woodland animals eyed the freaky-huge bungling human-type-thing with curiosity before retreating into hidden homes. The air was surprisingly warm in the sunlight, and the clear sapphire of the sky was only occasionally broken by masses of fluffy cotton-ball clouds. In the distance, the rest of the mountain range loomed, all green and brown with trees and white with a dusting of snow near their summits. The scents of maple and fresh highlands hung in the air like they'd been painted into it.

All in all, it was the perfect place to spend a day. Especially for me, someone who'd spent months training in places like this. I felt more alive than usual up here, as if someone had flicked a switch inside my brain and tripled my energy, sending a buzz throughout my body. Maybe it was nostalgia from training, or remnants of the wild cat spirit, or anticipation of what was to come … but whatever it was, it felt awesome.

Finding a suitable tree (suitable meaning not too close to the cliff with a sturdy, not too knobby trunk), I leaned Tohru's still-slumbering form against it and untied the picnic hamper from my back. It was a huge relief to my muscles. Not that Tohru and the hamper were heavy or anything … I'd carried one hundred-pound weights for hours at a time before in my training … jeez, I must have been getting out of shape …

I sat back against the trunk, gently placed Tohru's head in my lap, hoped the jeans I was wearing weren't uncomfortable for her or anything, and settled down to wait for her to wake up.

* * *

Her expression was the best part.

It was about 7:30am when Tohru woke up, sitting up so abruptly that the force of it caused me to knock my head on the tree. Snapping her head around like a newborn bird, her face redder than a ripe tomato, she proceeded to stutter out her shock.

"Wha … how … you … huh … where … wha?"

"Happy Day of Love, Gifts, Kisses, and Panicked Boyfriends, Tohru," I told her, grinning like I'd won the lottery.

"WHAT?" she screeched, her hair sticking out all over her head like it'd just been electrocuted. "I'm so sorry, I completely forgot to get you something! Oh, I'm such a horrible girlfriend …"

Her face was so red and her beautiful chocolate eyes were so wide with horror that I couldn't help but laugh. She was so cute when she was shocked. Not that I would ever admit I used the c-word. Love hadn't _completely _changed me. Yet.

After another minute or so of ranting about how sorry she was that she'd forgotten Valentine's Day, Tohru finally quieted down, panting like she'd just run a marathon.

"I brought you here for your Valentine's Day present," I explained, "since I couldn't find anything good to get you."

"You did all this … for me?" she whispered in awe, swiveling around to gaze at me.

I shrugged. "Well, duh. And it wasn't that hard. I just had to rent a car, get some take-out, and do a little research. You better enjoy it," I threatened her, "and not worry the entire time."

"I will," she promised.

My stomach chose that convenient time to roar. "Time for some breakfast?"

"I'll get out the –" she started to say.

"No, I'll do it," I cut her off, opening the hamper and excavating a few white take-out cartons. One held rice, one teriyaki, one tempura, one sushi, one rice balls ... enough food for both breakfast _and_ lunch. My stomach grumbled again as the scents of the food wafted into my nose.

"It looks delicious," Tohru murmured appreciatively. "But ... um ... Kyo-kun ... where are the plates and chopsticks?"

"Uh, they're right ... they're right ..." I looked around, on the ground and up in the sky, trusting the plates and chopsticks to somehow drop out of the heavens. When they completely failed to do so (Lesson learned today: You can never trust eating utensils), I slapped my palm to my forehead. "Damn, I knew I forgot _something_."

But my girlfriend only giggled, not at all mad. Which was one of the things I loved about her. "Don't worry, Kyo-kun. We can eat with our hands!" Plucking a piece of chicken teriyaki, she tossed it into her mouth, chewing and swallowing with relish as if it was one of her dishes and not crummy take-out. "See? It's fun!"

"If you say so." I rolled my orange eyes but humored her and grabbed my own piece.

A few minutes later, we were halfway into devouring our way through breakfast when my cell phone vibrated. Wiping my greasy fingers on my shirt, I dug it out from my jeans pocket, flipped it open, and pressed it to my ear. Tohru stopped eating, half of a tempura in her hand, and looked on with curiosity.

"Hello?"

"WHERE HAVE YOU TAKEN MY TOHRU?" yelled Shigure from the other end loud enough that Tohru could hear him, sounding like he'd just died (yeah, I wish). _Just my luck - we go to the top of a goddammed mountian and there's still enough cell phone reception for that dog to bother us._

"None of your business!" I shouted back. "And she's not your Tohru!"

"But I wanted to take her on a Valentine's Day date! What are you doing with her, anyway?"

"PERVERT!"

I chucked the little device as far as I could - in other words, off the edge of the cliff, where it plummeted to its death on a rock jutting out above the lake in an explosion of parts and beeping alarms.

"Are you sure that was a good idea?" Tohru inquired anxiously.

I shrugged. "It was broken anyway." Which was true. The screen was cracked from when Tohru had accidentally stepped on it a few weeks back, and I'd been procrastinating on buying a new one ever since (It still worked, so I hadn't seen the hurry.) Maybe I should've gotten one at the mall the previous day … crap …

"Oh."

"Come on, let's get back to eating."

* * *

A few hours, a few hikes, a few conversations, and one marginally delicious lunch later, the sun had climbed to its zenith and was enjoying the view too much to move. My girlfriend and I were dozing in the cozy heat, her head cushioned in my lap, my back against the tree, my fingers toying with her hair. Her warmth was so perfect, it was practically better than kissing.

…Nah, nothing was better than kissing. Except maybe [CENSORED]. The censors glared at the beta who'd added that line from behind their desk.

_I wish I could freeze this moment, right here, right now, and live in it forever._

Suddenly, Tohru popped our comfortable bubble of silence, startling a bird that had landed in the red-brown, intricately-shaped leaves above us.

"Hey, Kyo?"

"Yeah?"

"What was that you called Valentine's Day? Earlier, when I was just waking up?"

I dragged my mind out of the bowl of molasses it had been currently residing in and pulled the event from my memory. "You mean Day of Love, Gifts, Kisses, and Panicked Boyfriends? Haru called it that yesterday. Actually, I think there were some other things in there too, but I don't remember them."

"We don't have them all," she whispered.

"What?" I was more confused than a Poptart in a pencil sharpener, until she began to list:

"We've got love –we love each other. We've got gifts – this wonderful place you took me to. We've got panicked boyfriends – or at least panicked girlfriends. But no kisses. Not yet."

"Well, we'd better fix that, hadn't we?" I replied, leaning down so that my face was inches from hers.

The girl I loved nodded, smiling that small, beautiful, angelic smile that melted my heart like it was butter.

I pressed my lips to hers.

And for the next hour or so, we added "kisses" to our definition of Valentine's Day.

* * *

That night, I was setting sail into dream-land from the coziness of bed when Tohru murmured something from where her face was becoming permanently engraved into my shoulder.

"Uh?" (Kyo-sleep-language to English translation: "What? How dare you disturb my rest with words I can't even understand?")

"Thank you," she repeated, more loudly.

"For what?" I wasn't aware I'd recently done anything she had to thank me for.

"Taking me to that mountain. It was really" – she yawned, a sound a bit like a cat purring – "beautiful."

"Don't thank me, you deserve it," I replied.

"No, I don't. I didn't even get you anything."

"You made dinner," I pointed out.

"But … but .." she sounded about to explode into tears.

"Look, Tohru," I began, stalling while I thought of a way to console her (which I did, of course, because I'm just awesome like that), "I don't need any gifts. The fact that you're with me, that you love me, that you're _you_ is more than enough for me."

My shoulder was becoming wetter than a drowning rat (see what I did there?) and small sobbing noises were audible from her side of the bed. _That's Tohru for you – able to cry at the drop of a pin_, I thought fondly. I used to believe that crying so easily made her weak, but I'd come to realize that it was just her way of showing how extremely compassionate she was, a quality I sometimes wished I possessed.

Turning over so that I was facing her, I kissed the top of her head and stroked her softer-than-silk hair until she calmed down.

"Thank you," she said again.

"I love you," I told her.

"I love you."

I smiled, even though I knew she couldn't see me in the darkness of our bedroom. No matter how many times Tohru told me she loved me, it still gave me a feeling of pure bliss when I heard it, like I'd just achieved my ultimate goal in life. (Hey, who knows, maybe I had.)

"Goodnight," we whispered in unison.

Five minutes later, we were visiting the land of sleep – Tohru was getting excited and buying souvenirs to give our friends when we returned while I delighted in simply watching her and wondering how such a beautiful person ever managed to become my girlfriend.

* * *

_Kyo,_

_Sorry I didn't wake you, I had to go in to work early. The cookies are your (slightly late) Valentine's Day present – Happy Day of Love, Gifts, Kisses, and Panicked Boyfriends! I'll probably be back in time for lunch, so don't eat without me._

_Love you,_

_Tohru_

_

* * *

_**Thanks for reading, you awesome person. **

**Reviewing would make you about 1000 times awesomer.**

**(In other words, a review would be much appreciated, even if it's to tell me my story was horrible and you hated it.)**

**(*WARNING: SHAMELESS SELF-ADVERTISEMENT*) If you enjoyed this, you might like to check out my other Fruits Basket story, Rice Bowl Appreciation Day. :D)  
**


End file.
